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West Coast Blues

Saturday night over many beers with friends solving the problems of the world, I listened to several artists in the "West Coast blues" category. West Coast Blues tends to have an upbeat swing rhythm as compared to Chicago blues or the Delta blues.I have enjoyed the following:
Sugar Ray Norcia and the Bluetones-My Life... is best
Roomful of Blues- especially the cd's where Sugar Ray is on vocals
William Clark- all of them
Mitch Kashmar- his Live at Labatt's is great
Michelle Willson- great torch singer
Duke Roubillard
Lynwood Slim
2000 LBS of Blues- fun L.A. based blues
Kirk Fletcher- really gifted guitar player
Clarence Gatemouth Brown- some of his big band cd's have this swing with a little Texas twist.

Anyone else like this style of blues?
maxnewid
martykl
3,578 posts
 
BTW, I hosted an "after rehearsal dinner" party at Harvel's (Santa Monica) two nights before my wedding, some 8 years ago. 2,000 lbs of Blues tore it up for us. Great Band!

Marty
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,597 posts
 
A couple more came to mind.

Little Charlie and the Nightcats, later Rick Estrin and the Nightcats

Rick Estrin, vocals and harp, always had been the frontman but made it official when Little Charlie, guitar, decided to get off the road. Rick's vocals may be an aquired taste so check out some samples on Amazon before buying. These guys are a great party band in the West Coast Blues style.

Check out Marcia Ball. She's not West Coast Blues but she knows how to get a party going. Her most recent, Roadside Attractions, is a great place to start. She plays in a New Orleans R&B style but draws from a lot of Blues and R&B styles.

John, it depends on which album you're talking about. Taj covers a lot of territory.
paulsax
275 posts
 
+1 on Tonny Castro and Ronnie Earl. Great choices. How about Robbie Laws. Studied under Earl I think. Very similar. Plays Portland and Seattle quite a lot.
qdrone
1,039 posts
 
The late Robert Lucas who hailed from Long Beach gets a nod. Late in his career he ended up fronting Canned Heat.
bongofury
1,160 posts
 
Second the Marcia Ball. My favorite blues players include Dave Alvin, and, some of the selected tracks done by Los Lobos.
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